"So he is then alive, you say?" asked the Fiscal.

"O yes, sir! alive and tolerably well, considering. We two have had several bottles together in my quiet room; for I have still kept him concealed, to see what the Doctor would do next. He is in terror for him somehow, until sixty days be over from some date that he talks of, and seems assured that that dog will have his life by hook or crook, unless he can bring him to the gallows betimes, and he is absent on that business to-day. One night lately, when fully half-seas over, he set off to the schoolhouse, and frightened the Dominie; and last night he went up to the stable, and gave old Broadcast a hearing for not keeping his mare well enough.

"It appeared that some shaking motion in the coffining of him had brought him to himself, after bleeding abundantly both at mouth and nose; that he was on his feet ere ever he knew how he had been disposed of, and was quite shocked at seeing the open coffin on the bed, and himself dressed in his grave-clothes, and all in one bath of blood. He flew to the door, but it was locked outside; he rapped furiously for something to drink; but the room was far removed from any inhabited part of the house, and none regarded. So he had nothing for it but to open the window, and come through the garden and the back loaning to my workshop. And as I had got orders to bring a bucket-full of quicklime, I went over in the forenight with a bucket-full of heavy gravel, as much as I could carry, and a little white lime sprinkled on the top of it; and being let in by the Doctor,

I deposited that in the coffin, screwed down the lid, and left it, and the funeral followed in due course, the whole of which the laird viewed from my window, and gave the Doctor a hearty day's cursing for daring to support his head and lay it in the grave. And this, gentlemen, is the substance of what ĺ know concerning this enormous deed, which is I think quite sufficient. The laird bound me to secrecy until such time as he could bring matters to a proper bearing for securing of the Doctor; but as you have forced it from me, you must stand my surety, and answer the charges against me.'

The laird arrived that night with proper authority, and a number of officers, to have the Doctor, his sonin-law, taken into custody; but the bird had flown; and from that day forth he was never seen, so as to be recognised in Scotland. The laird lived many years after that; and though the thoughts of the quicklime made him drink a great deal, yet from that time he never suffered himself to get quite drunk, lest some one might have taken it into his head to hang him, and he not know anything about it. The Dominie acknowledged that it was as impracticable to calculate what might happen in human affairs as to square the circle, which could only be effected by knowing the ratio of the circumference to the radius. For shoeing horses, vending news, and awarding proper punishments, the smith to this day just beats the world. And old John Broadcast is as thankful to Heaven as ever that things are as they are.

Mount-Benger, May 15.

Vol. XXII.

K

THE progress of our shooting excursion having brought us into contact with a greater number of trees than were supposed to adorn this desolate spot of earth, an early hour on the morning of the 19th saw several working parties sally forth, bill-hook in hand, to fell them. The expedition was not undertaken in vain. In less than a couple of hours the whole of the south side of the island was rendered as bare and bleak as the side on which we had landed, whilst the bivouac presented the appearance of a timber-merchant's yard, so numerous were the trees, bushes, and shrubs which were dragged into it. It is probably needless to add, that of the fuel thus procured, the greatest possible care was taken. Like the food and liquor, it was put under the charge of constituted authorities; and logs and branches were regularly served out to every mess, proportionate in quantity to the numbers of the men who composed it.

I know not whether the Commissary General considered himself indebted to our spirit of adventure for this very valuable accession to the resources of the army, but he either gave, or appeared to give, to my friend and myself, a larger portion of fire-wood, than, strictly speaking, ought to have come to our share. Among the pieces issued out, there were, I recollect, some six or eight long pine stakes, not unlike the poles with which the Kentish farmers support their hops, and the Spanish vine-dressers their grapes. In the true spirit of veterans, we determined not to throw these away by burning them. On the contrary, we set our servants to work, drove the stakes into the ground, in bee-hive fashion, with the upper extremity inclining towards one another: and filling up the interstices with reeds brought from the swamp, we contrived to erect a hut, capable of affording shelter not only from the cold winds which occasionally blew, but from the rain. Of this we prepared to take possession towards sunset; but Dr Baxter, the chief medical officer, happening to be an acquaintance of ours, very

kindly offered us a corner in his hospital tent, and the offer was a great deal too valuable to be rejected. We resigned our own habitation to certain of our less fortunate comrades, and gladly followed our host.

Let me give here some description of the domicile into which we were introduced. It was a large marquee, constructed of spars, oars, and sails of boats. The interior might measure about thirty or forty feet in length; in breadth perhaps half that extent; and in height something less than twelve feet. Being composed of double folds of canvass, it was extremely warm, and perfectly proof against the weather. Its furniture consisted of casks, pack-saddles, sacks filled with stores of different kinds, canteens, linen-chests, and cases of surgical instruments. There was no table, nor any boards which might be substituted for a table; but a quantity of dry reeds overspread the ground, and afforded a very comfortable sofa for its inhabitants. As yet there were neither sick nor wounded to occupy it. On the contrary, as night closed in, numbers of hale and healthy persons, all of them claiming acquaintance with the Doctor, presented themselves at the door, and our hospitable friend made no scruple about receiving them all. Lamps being lighted, a cask of excellent brandy was broached, and with the aid of pipes and cigars, and an ample flow of good-humour, we passed several hours after a fashion which reminded us precisely of the many agreeable evenings which we had spent in winter-quarters upon the Douro and the Nivelle.

Such was our condition from the evening of the 16th to the morning of the 21st of December. On the 20th, indeed, the whole army was reviewed, and a new disposition of the troops so, far effected, that, instead of three, it was divided into two brigades, and what was termed the permanent advance. On the 21st, there came in to the camp four or five American offcers, who had deserted from General Jackson's army, and proposed to follow our fortunes, whilst a few war

riors, I believe from the tribes of the Cherokees and Chactaws, likewise appeared amongst us. With the former personages I found an opportunity of holding some conversation. When

asked as to their motives for deserting, they made no hesitation in declaring that they had come over to the side which they believed to be the strongest, perfectly satisfied that there was no force in Louisiana capable of of fering to us any serious resistance. They spoke of General Jackson as an able man; but as one so hated on account of his tyranny and violence, that not an inhabitant of the State would adhere to his standard, after they beheld the British flag fairly unfurled. They gave us, in short, every reason to believe that our difficulties would all cease as soon as we reached the mainland. With such a prospect before us, the reader will not be surprised to learn, that one feeling, and one only, pervaded the whole arma ment. We longed for the moment which should see us fairly in the field, and our longings were soon gratified.

Whilst the troops were thus amusing themselves in Pine Island, boats from every ship in the fleet, transports as well as vessels of war, were assembling in large numbers along the beach. To protect the rear against annoyance, each launch, as well as some of the barges, was armed with a twelve-pound carronade in the bows; whilst the six cutters lately captured from the enemy, with all the tenders and smallcraft brought from the Chesapeake, prepared to accompany them. In spite of the most strenuous exertions, however, it was found that the means of transport were extremely deficient. After everything, even to the captains' gigs, had been put in requisition, it appeared that hardly one-third of the army could move at a time; but even thus our leaders determined upon entering immediately upon the business. They were well aware, that no delay could possibly bring benefit to us, whilst every hour of respite would have enabled the enemy to mature his plans for our reception.

At nine o'clock in the morning of the 22d, the advance of the army, under the command of Colonel Thornton, stepped into the boats. It consisted in all of about fifteen hundred infantry, two pieces of light cannon, and a troop of rockets, and it was

accompanied by General Keane in person, the heads of the engineer and commissariat departments, a competent number of medical officers, and the Indian chiefs. Two of the deserters were likewise put on board, to act as guides as soon as we should land; and a moderate supply of ammunition, under the care of a storekeeper, was appointed to follow. The morning was dark and cloudy, and a cold damp wind gave promise of a heavy rain before many hours should pass. Nevertheless, we pushed off in the highest possible spirits, and only repressed our cheering because silence had been strictly enjoined.

The boat in which Charlton and myself were embarked was a man-ofwar's barge, rowed by six oars of a side, and commanded by a midshipman. Besides the seamen, there were crowded into it not fewer than sixty men and four officers, so that the full complement amounted to seventy-eight souls. Under these circumstances, the space granted to each individual was not, as may be imagined, very commodious. It was, indeed, by no means an easy task to shift our postures after they had once been assumed, for we were as completely wedged together as were ever a child's bricks in their box, or a bundle of logs in what is called a cord of wood. As long, however, as it continued dry overhead, the inconvenience thence arising was, comparatively speaking, little felt; but we had not proceeded more than a mile from the place of embarkation, when the black clouds suddenly opened, and the rain fell as if a thousand shower-baths had been all at once opened upon us. Then, indeed, our situation became comfortless enough. In the difficulty of adjusting ourselves at all, cloaks and greatcoats necessarily lost their clasps, and the neck and shoulders were left bare. There was no remedying the evil now; and though water ran down our backs and shoulders like the sewers in Ludgate Hill after a thunder-storm, yet was there much in the appearance of all about us calculated to carry our thoughts beyond the present moment, at all events, to make us think lightly of present grievances. Not fewer than an hundred boats, of all shapes and sizes, were making way in regular column over the surface of the lake; they were all filled, to repletion, with

armed men, and not a sound issued from them, except that which the row ing occasioned, and an occasional word of command uttered by those in authority. Everything was conducted in the most orderly manner. The boats moved in lines of ten a-breast; a little way a-head of them sailed a couple of cutters; the like number protected each of the flanks; and the rear was covered by three traders. There were appointed officers to each division, who, placed in light gigs, flew backwards and forwards as occasion required,-hurrying on those that lagged behind, and checking the progress of such as were too nimble; whilst Sir Alexander Cochrane, in a light schooner, kept just so far apart as to see at a glance how things were going, and to superintend the whole. I confess, that though I could have wished for fine weather, I could not help looking round with a feeling of the highest admiration. Troops advancing upon land present an imposing appearance no doubt; but no land movement, in which I have been an indifferent spectator, ever struck me as I was struck by the spectacle now in view.

We were well aware, that the distance from Pine Island to the Bays de Calatine, the point towards which our course was directed,-fell not short of eighty miles, and hence that there was but slender probability of our setting foot on shore betore the morrow. But the prospect of passing the night cramped and cooped up as we were, was certainly not hailed by any one with either satisfaction or indifference. The rain had fallen in such quantities, as not only to saturate the clothing of every individual, but seriously to incommode us, by creating a pool ankle-deep in the bottom of the boat, while, on account of our crowded state, we could not succeed in baling it. It ceased, however, at last, and was succeeded by a keen frost, and a northerly wind as sharp and cutting as any mortal would desire to face. I need not say, that the effects of the change were perfectly felt by us. We bore it, however, with the best philosophy which we could muster; and if a complaint or murmur happened from time to time to break forth, it was instantly rendered harmless by some rude joke, or an ironical expression of pity.

Such was the state of the weather, in our not very enviable condition,

when a gig, passing along from front to rear of the column, gave orders that the rowing should cease, and that awnings should be hoisted. Both commands were instantly obeyed; and as it seemed probable that we were to remain stationary for the night, we easily persuaded our pilot to light a fire. I cannot describe the nature of our feelings, as the pan of charcoal gradually threw out its heat on all sides. As we were thoroughly soaked, and our garments stiff with ice, I hardly know whether the sudden application of external heat to our benumbed limbs was productive of pleasure or the reverse. But of whatever nature our sensations might be, they were not permitted long to exert their influence. The fire was condemned to be extinguished; and in little more than an hour after we had first dropped them, the grapplings were raised, and the squadron was again under weigh.

As day dawned, a singularly wild and uninviting waste of country opened out before us. We were now within a stone's throw of the American shore, and ran along its edge in search of the mouth of the creek. It was a complete bog. A bank of black earth, or rather black mud, covered with tall reeds, constituted the single feature in the landscape. Not a trace of human industry, not a tree or bush of any kind or description, not even a mound or hillock, served to break in upon the sameness of scene. One wide waste of reeds alone met the eye, except at the very edge of the water, where the slime which nourished them lay slightly exposed. For some time this cheerless landscape extended wholly upon one side of us; the lake which we were crossing, being as yet too wide to permit a view of both shores at once; but the waters became gradually more and more narrow, and long before the freshness of the morning had passed away, land was visible in every direction. It was now manifest that our point of debarkation could not be very remote; and all eyes were in consequence turned in search of the point near which we considered it to be.

At length the mouth of a creek or inlet, wide at first, but rapidly narrowing, presented itself. Towards it the Admiral immediately directed his course; but the schooner in which he

was embarked drew too much water, and in a few minutes went aground, We could not make any effort to relieve him from his awkward situation, for this was not a moment at which serious delay could be tolerated, and our boats were all too heavily laden already, to admit of their taking additional passengers on board. On wards, therefore, we swept, the banks on either hand closing in upon us more and more as we proceeded, till first we were necessitated to contract our front, so as that five boats, then three, and finally that only one boat should move a-breast. We were now steering up a narrow cut, which measured, at its widest spot, not more than twenty feet across, and which, in some parts, became so exceedingly narrow, that the rowers ceased to dip the oars in the water, and propelled us by punting alone. Yet it was an admirable spot for the conduct of a secret expedition. As far as we could judge from the appearance of the soil, the bogs on either hand seemed quite impassable even for infantry. It was covered, as I have already stated, by reeds, so lofty as to obscure, in the most effectual de gree, any object which could float in the canal. No eye could therefore watch our proceedings; and though we, too, were shut out from beholding all other objects besides our own line of boats and the blue sky, there was not a man amongst us who entertained the slightest apprehension that danger could be near.

Having continued our progress thus, till the leading boats took the ground, preparations were made to land he troops as speedily as possible. With this view, a party of sailors were directed to leap on shore; who soon returned with intelligence that the soil was sufficiently firm, and that the debarkation might take place without any risk. The boats which were a-head lay so near to the bank, that the people who manned them, were enabled to step at once from the gunwales to the bog; those which came after them were not so conveniently situated. The men were, in consequence, directed to pass on from boat to boat, and so to reach the shore from one point only, This arrangement necessarily occasioned both delay and confusion; but, happily for us, there was no enemy near to avail himself of either; and the whole advance had

itself safely in bivouac by ten o'clock on the morning of the 23d.

Though suffering still in no slight degree from the rain of yesterday and cold of last night, the lighting of fires was strictly prohibited. Concealment, it was understood, was as yet the great object in view; and with the attainment of it, the existence of fires every one felt to be incompatible. Yet was the attempt to conceal our landing almost immediately abandoned. The Admiral and General, having put themselves on board a gig, came up some time after the men had formed; and a sort of council of war was immediately held, as to the most eligible course which it behoved them to follow. As yet all had gone on well. We were actually established on land, an event which they had hardly expected to accomplish so easily and uninterruptedly. What was next to be done? We were not long left in doubt on this head. The troops, who had begun to scatter themselves a little through the morass, were recalled to their ranks, and a line of march was formed. The deserters, placed in front, served as guides,they were under charge of the advanced guard, and directed its movements, and the little column set forward, quite indifferent as to the nature of the service in which it was about to be employed, and perfectly satisfied that success must attend its operations.

I know not by the use of what terms I shall be best able to convey to the reader's mind, some notion of the nature and appearance of the country through which our first movement was made. The bog, though soft, gave not way, as we had expected it would, beneath our tread, as long as we kept close to the margin of the creek, though any extended departure from that line of road brought us into a perfect quagmire. Yet were we compelled to move slowly, in part, because the weeds formed an obstacle to our progress, which it required a regular body of pioneers to remove, and in part, because there ran up from the canal, here and there, wide and deep ditches, across which rude bridges required to be thrown, before we were enabled to pass them. Of the scenery, again, all that can be said, is, that for the space of perhaps three or four miles, it never varied; reeds, and reeds